I think it's safe to say we have all had those students who immediately after reading a math problem raises their hand while shouting "but I don't get it!" It can be incredibly frustrating because you know they have not truly taken a reasonable amount of time to think through the problem and try to do something.

There are certain concepts in math that are pretty obvious in which order they should be taught.  Clearly students should learn to add before they learn to multiply, or divide whole numbers before learning to divide decimals. What I found is not so clear among many teachers and those district leaders who write our pacing guides is what comes first?

When students understand when they would actually use the content they are learning, their motivation is immediately boosted. Not only do students become more motivated in learning the content, but they are also challenged to apply (Bloom's Taxonomy, anyone?) the content which typically requires more critical thinking.